Feeding and submerging device.



0. GROTHJ FEEDING AND SUBMERGING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 16.191

1 ,32,%H8 Patented Apr. 29,1919,

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

BV @JQ /7 ATTORNEY O. GROTH.

FEEDING AND SUBMERGING DEVICE. APPLICATION man JULY 16.1917.

1,,8@2,%& Patented Apr. 29, 1919.

2 SHEET$-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES: l/VVE/VTOR A TTOH/VE V rename a ASSIGNO% T0 EASTMAN KODAK G UJMPAHY, 0E dTlBlllt, NEW Y0, A l

onnrrcrr or roan.

SUBWWGING DJTBVKGSE.

Patented'l ipr. 22 M919.

Application tiled July it}, new. serial No. rennet.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, O'rro GRo'rH, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feeding and Submerging Devices; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and to the reference characters marked thereon,

'This invention relates to nitrating machines, and more particularly to mechanism for feeding and submerging material in the nitrating bath.

The objects of my invention are to provide, simple, reliable, and durable mechanism; to reduce the manual labor required. and consequently the number of attendants; to avoid splashing of the acid; to materially reduce the volume of evolved nitric oxid fumes; to not only submerge the materials to be nitrated, such as cotton, below the surface of the acid, but to break up lumps of cotton which may tend to form and to resubmerge any masses of wet cotton that tend to rise abovethe acid; to provide an immersing device having an endless surface which is yieldingly mounted and partially submerged in the acid and is impositively driven so as to travel in the same general direction as the flow of acid and cotton, and

Bill

to provide smooth continuous ribs upon the submerging device which will be self clearing to substantially preventmasses of cotton adhering thereto. Other objects will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawing in which like reference characters indicate the same parts throughout the several viewsi Figure 1 is a side elevation of a nitrating machlne embodying my invention, parts of the casing and drum of the centrifugal and parts of the immersing device being broken away to more clearly show the internal structure.

Fig. 2 is a plan view ofthe apparatus.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the detached submerging device.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the submerging device swung out of the nitrating chamber and into a draining chamber.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic sectional view through the submerging roller taken perpendicularly to the axis of the submerging roller.

Fig. 6 is a corresponding diagrammatic sectional view taken at right angles to Fig. 5, the submerging roller being shown in side elevation.

In nitrating such material as cotton, concentrated sulfuric and nitric acids are brought into contact with the cotton in machines which circulate the acid usually in an endless path, the commonest of these machines being centrifugals. l have, therefore. illustrated my invention as embodied in such an apparatus. Part of the outer casing of the centrifugal of a conventional type is represented at 1. lit is provided at its top with a peripheral flange 2, upon which rests a cover 3 provided at the rear with a gas-vent ll, and at its front part with a door 5. Within the centrifugal is a rotary drum'6 having a central tapering cone or hub 7 perforated in the conventional way (not hown). Upon the hub 7 is aflixed a driving ring 8 more fully referred to hereinafter.

1 nected by hinges 1'? and 18 to atorsionally flexible bar 16. Adjustably attached to this bar, by slot and bolt connections 14-, 15, are the connected supports 12 and 13, the former carrying two vertical bearing arms 11 in which turns the shaft 10 of the feeding and immersing roll 9. This roll is provided with smooth, annular, coaxial, spaced flanges 23, 24, 25, and 26. The roll itself is preferably hollow, to enable it to cooperate properly with the dense-acid and to keep the parts sufliciently light for easy manipulation. The dimensions of the parts are such that the roll is normally partly submerged beneath the surface of the acid, as indicated in Figs. 1, 5, and 6. It is yieldingly retained in its lower position by spring 30 on the end of support 12, said spring 30 having a hook 31 at its lower"end engaging detachably .over flange 2 of the cas- 1ng 1. Sleeve 21 is provided with a thumb screw 32 for engagin the pin 19. The pin 20 is freely rotata le in the sleeve 22, although a thumb screw similar to 32 may be used in sleeve 22 if desired. li/lounted ice upon the arms 11 are side guides or defiectors 33, and upon the support 12 is a top guide-3 f.

The several parts of the submerging device and its supports arevordinarily-made of steel which I find to be sufficiently durable in practice. For the parts which come in contact with the acid most frequently, any preferred acid resisting material such as aluminum could be substituted if necessary.

At one side of the centrifugal, and in rear of the sleeve 22, I attach a box 27 for the reception of the submerging roll 9 and its associated parts. This box is provided with a cover 28 and cut away seats 29 to receive the bar 16. During the interval when the submerging device is not in use it is kept in this covered receptacle to protect the operator from contact with the acid-soaked parts and to sup ort it in the best position for draining. 0 remove the submerging device from the centrifugal to the box, the operator loosens thumb screw 32 and lifts pin 19 out of sleeve 21. He thereupon rotates bar 16 upwardly about hinge 18 until it is near enough to the vertical to be easily manipulated. It is then twisted by turning pin 20 in sleeve 22 and finally lowered by turning about hinge 18 until it rests in seats 29.

The flange 23 of the roll 9 is arranged to contact near its outer edge with the rotatin ring 8 on hub 7, being resiliently presse thereagainst by the spring 30, the bar 16 be ing sulficiently yielding under torsional stresses to permit of this limited rotary movement.

In use the centrifugal is filled with acid to the proper level and the drum 6 with its hub 7 is rotated at a relatively low speed,

thus moving the acid A in a circular or end positiv'ely so that its active submerging portion travels in the same general direction as the flow of material in the centrifugal.

It has been customary in this art for two men to attend to each centrifugal, one for feeding the cotton and the other for submerging it with an iron bar. My machine merely calls for one attendant. This attendant merely drops the cotton C to be nitrated upon the moving surface of the concentrated acid A (Figs. 5 and 6), so that it will be carried into contact with the rotating roll 9 and ribs 23, 24, 25, and 26. These neoaeee beneath the acid and thoroughly in-v Should any the air where splashing and fuming would result; thus the smooth ribs coiiperatmg with the stream of acid are practically self clearing. The guides 33 and 34 aid in bringing the cotton under the influence of thesubmerging roll and ide 34: tends to'prevent any acid or wet 'c umps of cotton from being thrown or splashed upwardly by the roll. although, as just stated, the chance of wet cotton adhering to the roll is very slight indeed.

I find in practice that the resilient or yielding mounting for the submerging roll is important, as it permits the latter to function properly in spite of variations in the level of the acid and in spite of the varying buoyancy of diderent sized batches of cotton that are fed into the machine. Thus with the larger batches of cotton, the roll will ride upwardly upon them and force them under th acid. Furthermore, this yielding construction permits clumps of cotton to'pass between the ring 8 and flange 23 without any injury to the mechanism.

Cotton which has been submerged in acid sometimes tends to float or become partially raised above the surface of the acid in such a way as to cause a large amount of fuming or evolution of nitric oxid fumes, which are in- .jurious to. the attendants and represent a waste of acid. My device greatly reduces this trouble, because any clump of cotton which rises above the surface is immediately and repeatedly swept under the roll 9, where it is a ain submerged.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Pat ent of the United States, is:

1. In nitrating apparatus, means for cir- I culating the acid in a defined path, and a separate feeding and immersing member having a moving endless feeding and submerging face, part of which is arranged below the level of the acid, the active sub merging portion of said face moving in the same general direction as the circulating acid.

2. In nitratin apparatus, means for circulating the aci in a defined path, a feeding and immersing member mounted transversely to said path and having an endless feeding and submerging face, part of'which is below the level of the acid and moves in the same general direction as the circulating naoaaee acid, and means for yieldingly supporting said member.

3. In nitratin apparatus, means for circulating the acid in a defined path, a separate feeding and immersing member mounted transversely to the path of the acid and having an endless feeding and submerging face, part of which is arranged below the level of the circulatin acid, said face being provided with space ribs and being com! posed of acid resisting material.

4. The combinationset forth in claim 3, the ribs being smooth and continuous. v

5. In nitrating apparatus, means for circulating the acid in a defined path and a separate partially submerged feeding and submerging cylinder mounted to rotate about an axis transverse to said path.

6. In combination, the elements defined in claim 5, said cylinder being provided with spaced, smooth, continuous ribs.

7. In combination. the elements defined in claim 5, the cylinder being provided with s1 1l1)ooth, continuous, spaced, coaxial, annular r1 s. 1

8. In nitrating apparatus, a centrifugal having a central rotating hub, and a feeding and submerging member frictionally driven from said hub.

9. In nitrating apparatus, a centrifugal having a rotating hub therein provided with a driving ring, and a feeding and submerging member driven frictionally from said ring.

ing and submerging cylinder arranged transversely ofsaid path and provided withv spaced annular ribs, and guides for direct- .ing the fiber to said cylinder and ribs.

device,

13. In a feeding. and submerging I a bar provided with a lateral bearing support, and a feeding and submerging roll carried by said support.

14. In a feeding and submergin device,

a bar, a lateral bearing support a justably mounted on said bar, and a feeding and submerging roll carried by said support.

15. In apparatus for feeding and 1 submerging material into a body of liquid, a feeding and submerging station and means for moving the liquid past said station, said rotatably mounted at one end and attached at the" other end to a spring for rotating said support downwardly and pressing said roll into contact with said rotary driving member.

17. In nitrating apparatus, a nitrating chamber, a draining chamber, a frame carrying a feeding and submerging device, said frame being mounted to swing from said nitrating chamber to said draining chamber.

18. In nitrating apparatus, a nitrating chamber, a draining chamber, a frame carrying a feeding and submerging device, said frame being pivotally mounted at one end to swing about horizontal and vertical axes from said nitrating chamber to said draining chamber, there being adjacent the nitrating chamber a detachable support for the other end of said frame. 7 y

19. In nitrating apparatus, a nitrating chamber, a draining chamber, a frame carrying a feeding and submerging device, said frame being mounted to swin from said nitrating chamber to said drainlng chamber, said draining chamber being provided with a cover and seats for the frame which permit the cover to be closed when said frame and device are in the draining chamber.

20. In apparatus for feeding and submerging material into a body of liquid, a feeding and submerging station, means for moving the liquid past said station, said station including a rotary feeding and submerging device in driven contact with said movin liquid. u

21. n apparatus for feeding and submerging material into a body of liquid, a feeding and submerging station, means for moving the liquid past said station, a driving elementadjacent said station, and a rotary feeding and submerging device impositively driven from said moving liquid and from said drivin member.

In testimony w ereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two witnesses this 5th day of July 1917, at Rochester, NY.

OTTO GRU'II-I. Witnesses:

. d. E. Sumner,

C. E. MARTIN. 

